LETTERS: NORTH COUNTY, JAN. 12, 2013

The American people need lobbyists

The tax bill just passed meant that 2 percent of the American people would get a tax raise to help pay for trillions in national debt. Of course, the robber barons and their stooges plan to have the most vulnerable Americans pay most of that debt, which was caused by those very robber barons and their stooges.

Now they will try to pass another bill cutting America’s humanitarian programs to the bone or eliminating them entirely while ignoring the most wasteful, corrupt and fraud-ridden programs like insane wars, the military-industrial complex and a $50-billion-a-year police state.

The financial swindlers were able to hold their tax rate to 20 percent with those millions in bribes, and the robber barons got goodies like Goldman Sachs getting $1.6 billion in free financing, and 20 corporations getting a $11.2-billion, two-year tax loophole and that sacred, corporate tax code bulging with billions in tax breaks, loopholes, tax havens and subsidies remains untouchable.

Too bad the American people don’t have a lobbyist bulging with billions in bribe money.

Connie Frankowiak

Julian

Where are Greenhut, Will?

The North County Times lacks substance; it is a shadow of its former self. And where is Steven Greenhut, the conservative watchdog columnist who reports on Sacramento, politics and union organization abuse?

Let’s see his column regularly. His reporting and writings by George Will are the only reasons I stick around.

Tom McDougall

Fallbrook

What global warming?

Really has been cold lately, even to the extent of ice on my truck tires in Oceanside in the morning. Must be that global warming I keep hearing about (rolls eyes).

Craig Waterhouse

Escondido

Sandy Hook residents thankful for prayers

Our family lives in Sandy Hook, Conn., and we recently helped open the massive amounts of mail that were forwarded to St. Rose of Lima in Newtown, expressing the world’s love and prayers.

Given the number of letters we saw just from the Carlsbad area, we wanted to write to thank the citizens of Carlsbad for all the emotion that has poured out of this city. We know it isn’t limited to just the card senders and that all mankind has felt this terrible blow in some way.

Our little town has been rocked to its core, but people should know that every prayer and every thought does make its way to us. We feel the love.

John and Erin Corcoran

Sandy Hook, Conn.

More GOP alternate reality

In November, I discussed the alternate reality in which Republicans exist. Since then, there have been several additional examples.

Darrell Beck (“America will collapse under Obama’s debt,” Jan. 1) sees a ludicrous, Obama-backed, “Marxist plot to destroy capitalism in favor of socialism.” In fact, capitalists have thrived during Obama’s tenure with corporate profits at record levels.

Gary Walker (“Second Amendment is ultimate gun control law,” Jan. 3) sees gun control efforts as, “tyranny in the form of Marxist/socialist usurpers and dictators acting as shills for the criminal international banking cartel and corporate oligarchy.” Marxists acting as shills for bankers and corporations? This is too ridiculous to take seriously.

Finally, Public Policy Polling found that 49 percent of GOP voters believe that President Obama did not legitimately win re-election because ACORN (the community organizing group) interfered with the vote. ACORN, of course, hasn’t existed since 2010.

So, as we enter 2013, Republicans have their tinfoil beanies firmly in place as their reality grows more bizarre. It’s going to be a very amusing year.

Stephen Carter

Escondido

Wants quality news

The most interesting item in the Jan. 6 North County Times was in the crime report about a plastic reindeer being placed in an inappropriate position on another reindeer.

The headline articles about a garden (“Gift would allow botanic garden to grow”) and a food truck (“Food trucks forcing action”) were placed in an inappropriate section of the paper — headline material?

Come on guys, you can do better than that!

Mary Lee Huntington

Vista

What can government do, if not provide aid?

Growing up on the East Coast, I always believed that one of the reasons the government existed was to take care of Americans who couldn’t meet their own needs. When a hurricane caused extensive damage, I knew the government would be there to help.

It took more than two months for House Speaker John Boehner to take action on the first installment of a disaster aid bill for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Sixty-seven Republicans voted against it in an effort to rein in government spending, even though some of them (including Paul Ryan) voted for spending hundreds of billions of dollars to finance two unwinnable wars.

If our government cannot even provide aid and comfort to citizens whose lives have been devastated, what can it do?

Bunny Landis

Oceanside

Freeway needs

Thomas K. Arnold is right on in his Jan. 6 column, “I-5 needs more than more lanes.”

I’ve said it many times, “build it and they will come,” and that is especially true of freeways. It doesn’t make any difference if we add two, four or ten lanes. They will fill up.

If the freeway is clogged, drivers will use side streets or alternate routes, something quite difficult along our freeways. If their work schedule permits, they’ll arrive before or after rush hour or “hours,” if you will. Moving closer to work may be an option for some, but not if you currently own your home or cannot afford more expensive housing closer to work. There’s a reason why people commute in from Temecula.

The only other option is to telecommute, but that is obviously not possible for those working in a factory or on a construction project.

Traffic flow is just like water running downhill. Water will always take the path of least resistance, so if you dam up one course, it will quickly find another alternative route.

Technology can help commuters find that alternate.

Thomas Francl

Escondido

This is progress?

Slowly, the old North County Times subscribers are becoming acquainted with the new combination and, in most respects, it is a better newspaper.

However, I do have one complaint. I paid extra to get the weekly TV section with the NCT. Now I have been required to subscribe separately to the TV Weekly (without, I might add, a reduction in the subscription price).

They have replaced a TV section that was about 90 percent correct with one that is, at best, about 40 percent correct.

This is progress?

Bill Miller

Oceanside

Unanswered questions

The questions asked in the editorial “Benghazi’s still-unanswered questions,” Jan. 1, could have had “Iraq” substituted in the title.

When did President Bush know and not know about weapons of mass destruction? Where is the paper trail showing who edited the truth of his administration’s talking points? How much investigation was done tying Al Qaeda to 9/11?

We need these questions answered because of the ensuing official 4,488 deaths and over 33,000 wounded in Iraq by not having the truth told.

Susan Haskell

Solana Beach

Mind-blowing exhibits at Oceanside Museum of Art

A date requested a visit to the Oceanside Museum of Art. I had not gone there for a while. Three exhibits blew our minds.

The quilt exhibit was so real in technique that, unless you stood close, you would think they were paintings. The abstract exhibit was for true contemplation. The monster exhibit overpowered me and I asked my date if we could leave.

I would say the exhibits have something for every member of the family. I’m not sure how long each will be there, but go see them. You won’t regret doing so.

William Hart

Carlsbad

Understanding the Second Amendment

I’ve read a few letters with the typical liberal knee-jerk reactions to the mass murder at the school in Newtown, Conn. It’s clear that many don’t know an automatic weapon from a semi-automatic weapon or even what an assault rifle really is. They really should do some research before opining.

Then there are the letters that appear to be thought-out and honest, but clearly aren’t. Bruce Thompson’s (“The need for a well-regulated militia,” Jan. 3) is one such example. Mr. Thompson doesn’t believe the Second Amendment was to protect us from a government turned tyrannical. He doesn’t know the difference between a militia and a standing army. He wants you to believe that the Second Amendment advocates are a reaction to taxes and obfuscates it with a reference to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791.

The right to self-defense predates the Second Amendment and has even been documented in biblical times. The Bill of Rights was to protect the citizen from the government. After the First Amendment, it was quickly realized a need for the Second Amendment.

Mr. Thompson and his ilk need to read the Federalist Papers. After all, not heeding history, one is doomed to repeat its mistakes; a little knowledge of history is dangerous.

Daniel Prinzing

Encinitas

SDG&E customers deserve better

I find disgusting the article by Jessie Knight Jr. of San Diego Gas & Electric Co., trying to rationalize how the effects of wildfires on their system are out of their control and how we should be sympathetic to their “challenges” (“Wildfires present challenges to utility,” Dec. 29).

What is hard to believe is the business and legal strategy SDG&E takes regarding wildfires. They are spending huge amounts of money on legal strategies for relief of liability from the California Public Utilities Commission and permission to shut down power when the wind blows over 28 miles per hour.

What is a fact is that SDG&E is negligent in the design and maintenance of their power distribution lines. They still have creosote wood poles in high-risk wildfire areas and use defective line designs that can’t withstand a typical Santa Ana wind. The money spent on legal finagling would have gone most of the way in fixing their defective lines. It is time for us ratepayers to hold SDG&E’s feet to the fire. Let’s start by making shareholders aware of how bad the management of their company is, then make our California Public Utilities Commission more aware of SDG&E’s negligence and demand better service and much lower rates.

We customers deserve better.

Dale Haakenson

Valley Center

Clarification, please

I want to see if I have this correct: People who say they need guns to protect themselves from a government takeover are afraid that the U.S. government may one day take political control of the country?

Say, bud, aren’t you a couple of hundred years too late?

Phil Acosta

Vista

Comments from the gun-control crowd?

We seem to punish good people over owning things. Why not punish bad people who use weapons in crimes? Commit a crime with a gun and you should get 25 years with no parole, no matter what your age or crime.

Using a weapon should always be the first crime punishable and after that, for example, crimes like armed robbery.

Will I get any comments from the gun control crowd? I do not think so, because they want guns from law-abiding citizens, not illegal gun-use control.

Peter Murnieks

Vista

Fix unemployment

For months now, the “fiscal cliff” has dominated the headlines. It is deferred for now, but who’s to say that we won’t face the same disagreements in two months? Instead, we should be focusing on something we can all agree on — the necessity of reducing unemployment.

Republicans and Democrats alike want to reduce the deficit. By lowering the unemployment rate, the deficit will naturally decline. When people work, they don’t need food stamps and government assistance. They begin to pay income taxes. Therefore, the government brings in more revenue and cuts its costs. This measure would be more effective than cutting money from the defense budget, or raising taxes on the wealthy.

In order to create jobs, our government needs to be friends with business. Sometimes, this entails helping the big corporation so they won’t outsource; other times, this involves helping the family farm stay afloat. Whatever “side” you’re on, it comes down to a simple fact: businesses hire employees, employees pay taxes and taxes fund the government.

There is a solution to this financial crisis, but the American people will continue to suffer until our lawmakers look beyond the present situation and pass legislation that will have long-term benefits.

Katherine Dufour

Valley Center

Our economy is at stake

This long-awaited fiscal cliff plan is only a colossal Band-Aid over the national deficit. Naturally, today’s taxpaying Americans (sans the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans who will experience a tax hike) express relief at the prospect of not undergoing new tax increases.

However, this deal does nothing but add to the $16 trillion deficit. So while the working classes of today do not undergo any tax increases, the problem still remains: The deficit is growing, and it can’t be ignored. By using this temporary fix, the federal government is only shoveling the deficit onto the working-people of the future.

The debt is fluctuating constantly — how can we control this in another decade? Votes are what drive politicians of today. They claim that the government is obligated to rule with the consent of the governed, but there is no more time to be waiting for trial balloons to float back.

The longer the debt is ignored, the more it will grow and give way for a new onslaught of issues. If the government continues to wait out this deficit, there is no promise that we will be able to control this debt. Our economy is at stake and we need bold policymakers, not Band-Aids.

Miranda Ceja

San Marcos

The 6-year-old versus the federal government

Reports indicate the politically correct are in a dither because a 6-year-old in Maryland this past week pointed his finger in a pistol-like gesture at a fellow student and said, “Pow!”

This is something 6-year-olds have been doing since time immemorial. I engaged in the same behavior myself some six decades ago.

Well, the PC crowd went into overdrive. The child was suspended and his name was presumably added to a Department of Homeland Security Naughty List.

I was thinking about how the authorities reacted to this incident and compared it with the so-called budget deal reached in Washington this week.

I am not alone in noticing my first paycheck in January was a little “lighter” than usual. In practical terms, about four tanks of gas a month. I shall notice this.

It occurred to me that what Washington did was wave its collective middle finger at the American people and say, “Pow!”

The response of the American people cannot be printed in this newspaper.